I have noticed that the ass-kicking, as a system of keeping social order, is not used now nearly as much as it used to be.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems as if there used to be an understanding in most neighborhoods that if someone crossed a certain line, they'd likely earn themselves an ass-kicking. Steal someone's bike, or pick on his little sister, or don't pay him for refinishing your deck or something, and chances are there will be a bunch of guys (let's face it, it was mostly guys) looking for them later that night.
These days, in both liberal and conservative towns, it seems like either the ass-kickers will get arrested, sued, or publicly buried after getting exposed by either Facebook or Action News At Ten, or someone just starts shooting.
It wasn't a great system — it was extrajudicial, dangerous, often unfair, and no politician is likely to adopt it as a campaign promise — but it was an informal, grass roots system, and it did have some effect, and it is all but gone now.
It this just me? Has anyone else noticed this?